Family stories and research stories that tell the tale of my personal research. If you have a similar family line or want to know more. Please contact me!

Monday, November 25, 2013

Miner, Palmer,Avery - Interesting Connection

I have spent a lot of time looking at a lot of allied
families of the Gallup family. Possibly because
it was probably one of the first families that I felt that I had pretty good
sources to reference…primarily the Gallup family genealogy. During my research, there are several allied
families that I became quite familiar with such as Avery, Denison, Stanton,
Palmer, Chesebrough, and Miner. While I
don’t seem to have direct connections to these families through my Gallup
family…my interest in these lines has provided some unseen benefits for some
of my other family lines.

Nathanial Swan and his wife Mahitable Brown would be my 7th
great grandparents. Both were born in
Stonington, New London Co., CT in the early 1700’s. Nathanial was born in 1709 and Mehetable was
born in 1712. Their son, Jesse Swan was
married to Elizabeth Baldwin, and they were the family that moved from Stonington,
New London Co., CT to New York and their granddaughter Cynthia married Potter
Gage and are my 4th great grandparents. (Cynthia
Swan & Potter Gage). While
taking this family back a few more generations I found some interesting tie in’s
with my Gallup family. Which make me
fascinated with some of the marriage patterns within my larger family tree.

Thomas Miner Grave

Grace Palmer Grave

Thomas Miner - Memorial

I ran into one of those first interesting names when trying
to find the ancestry of Mehetible Brown. She married Nathaniel Swan on 13 Jan 1730 in Stonington. She was the daughter of John Brown and
Elizabeth Miner…and this is where the connections really became interesting. John Brown was a second generation immigrant to
the New World and while they were interesting – John Brown’s parents Thomas
Brown and Mary Newhall didn’t really strike any familiar chords with me. However, to find out that Elizabeth Miner was
the daughter of Ephraim Miner and Hannah Avery – those were very familiar family
names in my research.

Ephraim Miner was the son of Thomas Miner and Grace
Palmer. Thomas was born in Chew Magna,
Somerset, England in 1608 and immigrated to the America on the “Lion’s Whelp” a
ship that arrived in 1629. By 1634, he
had married Grace Palmer. Grace Palmer was the daughter of Walter Palmer
who emigrated with this family in 1629 from Gravesend England on the “Four
Sisters” arriving in Salem, MA. Not too
long after he arrived, he along with a few other settlers moved to a new area
and helped build the community of Stonington, CT and his considered as a
founder of the town along with William Chesebrough, Thomas Minor, and Thomas
Stanton. These are families that are predominant
with any family that you research in the region. Walter Palmer must have been an impressive
man. He was reputed to be an unusually larger
man of about 6 ‘5 which must have been quite impressive.

Walter Palmer Wolf Stone

Walter Palmer Memorial - Erected much later

Walter Palmer died in 1661 and the age of 78
and a large Wolfe stone covers his grave to this day. Close by is the his son in law, Thomas Minor buried
with his wife.

These four men established the town of Stonington despite what
must have been a great deal of hardship and certainly required lot of
fortitude. Through Mahitible Brown’s mother,
Elizabeth Miner, I can count Thomas Minor as my 9 great grandfather, James Avery
as my 10th great grandfather and Walter Palmer as my 11th
great grandfather through his daughter, Grace was married to Thomas Minor. So in Wequetequock
Cemetery, their ancient gravestones dating back to the late 1600’s remain as a tribute
to these families who chose to be pioneers and build a new home in Stonington,
Connecticut away from the closest thing that those settlers had to a comfort
zone. Everyone once in a while, I spend some time looking at the Avery’s,
Miners, Palmer’s and remember how these men helped build a new settlement. Their descendants are scattered amongst many
of the New England families that connect to many of my other New England families and it is certainly interesting to learn that some of my ancestors of long long ago, helped establish communities that are still thriving to this day!.